Our third camp has started

There are about 60 kids in our third camp. It's great to see such a turnout. The church we’re working with visited the surrounding neighborhoods and signed up as many kids as they could. The number of kids at this camp is actually slightly higher than their average Sunday attendance. The original target was about thirty elementary students but once the word got out the enrollment doubled in the week before camp. We’re spending a lot of time modifying the curriculum to address the more advanced level of these urban kids. However, the activities need to be down graded from our middle school material to something more suitable for elementary aged students and there are no outdoor spaces in which to play field games. This has been a bit of a frustration for us as we don't have a lot of time during the evenings to put the final touches on the next day's lesson plans. For the team, Chuck

Two out of three...

As it turns out, two of the three girls in the photo we posted on the 14th (below) were deeply moved during our follow-up meeting on Saturday and prayed with camp counselors after the meeting. Many other teens responded as well, although the average would not be as high as 66%. Our National Taiwan University coworkers will be following up by visiting and staying in touch with many of the kids and the local VGM pastor will continue to minister to them and their families. Please pray for these young people and their families. Many of them are in very difficult situations and lack the parental care they need during these important years. The local church, although very small, is effectively ministering in these villages with the message of Christ. Our hope is that we might be able to help by meeting some of the felt needs of the communities that we have visited and sharing with our students, their families and the school administrators the redeeming grace of Jesus.

Late last night several county governments declared a "typhoon day" for the schools meaning that the offices were open but classes were canceled. This gave us the opportunity to spend the afternoon visiting our students at their homes. The morning was spent adjusting the English program so that we can present the remaining material in half a day. Because we have adjusted the schedule to use Saturday morning for the last day of the English program, this actually works out pretty good allowing us to spend more time with families and making it easier for students to stick around for the follow up meeting.

Everyone is in very high spirits. Our Taiwanese teammates are great to work with and, as most college students, very fun loving. This year they brought guitars (four) and have been jamming into the night resulting in two of the guitars being disabled with broken strings. I’ve learned several new Taiwanese praise hymns.

We all miss our families back home. Claire has been on the phone with her mom, who is now in Hong Kong. She’ll be joining us in Chung Li on Sunday. I’ve had several emails with my family. It’s nice to be in a place where we can get a good internet connection.

Jesus stills the storm...

Just a short note. Well, not exactly like it happened in Luke but nonetheless the storm has turned north just enough to prevent excessive winds and flooding where we are. Last night it looked very much like the county would close all public offices and schools. The wind and cloulds are actually making the days more comfortable. There's lots of rain but we're OK with that if it means cooler weather. However, there is talk about closing things down tomorrow (Friday) in the expectation that once the typhoon gets over the mountians there will be significant flooding. This is probably the best situation for us if the schedule needs to be changed. We will compress our Friday classes and present them on Saturday and follow with our planned followup "party."

There have been many positive responses from the students about the classes, activities and friendliness of the staff counselors. There is a new principle at this school and we have been well received by him and the rest of the school. Although we are busy from 7 a.m. ‘til almost midnight, the work is very rewarding. Thank you for your continued support.

For the team, Chuck

Typhoon Bilis is headed this way...

There is a typhoon headed our way. this is actually the second one to threaten the camp schedule. It has the potential to disrupt our last two days of camp and the followup meeting scheduled for Saturday morning. Please pray that it will not follow the expected path or will at least slow down until the week is over. If you want to follow its progress you can go to http://www.supertyphoon.com/#05w.

We're working late into the nights and starting early in the morning so this posting is going to be short. I just wanted everyone to know that we are doing well and very excited about what we have been able to do with the students in just a few short days.

For the team, Chuck

Hey everyone!

We are currently at our second location of the trip, a middle school in Suan Tou. We will conduct an English camp here for our third year in a row. Unlike Josh, I’m going to start off with the team update…

I can think of one word to describe our team right now: tired. Please pray as we are tired physically. We have had long days and short nights the past week. This morning the entire team was struggling to stay awake in church. Free time (what little we have) is spent sleeping, sleeping, or sleeping. No, just kidding. We also play basketball or check e-mail (or in my case, eat snacks!).

Yesterday was quite an emotionally and spiritually stressful day. We started off our day with a gospel meeting at the church in Niao Song. I was personally disappointed seeing only about 12 kids arrive out of the 90 that attended the English camp. However, 12 is better than none, and I’m sure that the 12 that attended were touched by God’s love. One highlight of the meeting was that we were able to surround the kids and pray for them individually. I have found that the area of Niao Song is very closed to the gospel and that the kids there are very firmly rooted in their families’ traditional beliefs. After the gospel meeting, we left for Kaohsiung to have lunch with our co-workers before parting to work with Johnny’s parents’ church for a couple hours. The original plan was to have an outdoor gospel outreach (in a park surrounded by a Taoist Seminary and a Buddhist temple), but the weather was stormy and rainy. We were told that every time the church plans something like this (public outreach), there is bad weather. The church decided to still hold a meeting indoors and then to go on a prayer walk. There is obviously much spiritual warfare going on in this area but praise God, the churches are still growing and actively reaching out in their area. Between saying good-bye to old co-workers and meeting twenty new co-workers, going on prayer walks, walking through thunderstorms, and attending gospel meetings, we were certainly exhausted by the end of the day – physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Leaving our co-workers from the previous week was especially difficult for me. I had built some really close relationships, and as always, did not want to leave. In fact, I’m already dreading the day we leave Taiwan…

As we begin anew in Suan Tou this week, please pray that we will have energy and health and that we will continue to experience the joy of serving the Lord. As my mom would say, “I’m glad you think working 18 hours a day and sleeping 6 hours at night is fun.” Pray for the kids we are teaching this week. Many of them come from difficult backgrounds and since this is the third year we’ve been at this school, we’ll need creative new ideas to get them interested in what we have to say. Pray for unity between the Taiwanese co-workers and the BCF team. Many of them speak excellent English (some of them having spent 7+ years in the U.S.) but it is still difficult for everyone to mix and work together. Pray for tolerance for Josh…one of his co-workers is currently a student at UVA (need I say more??).

Well, that’s all from the BCF team. We’ve had a wonderful time so far (as I said before, I DON’T want to leave!!). We appreciate your prayers!! ~Claire Lo 

Niao Song camp has started - by Josh Brown

Oh, hello there. The last time this blog saw you, we were 2 days away from the start of the first English camp, and all doing fine. Well, we’re now 2 days in, and I’m happy to report that we are indeed still doing fine though maybe a little more tired. From last year there are a few things that I have totally forgotten about. First and foremost is the driving. I am not really sure how there isn’t an accident every other 10 seconds, but somehow they do it. Anyway on to more pressing matters, our camp! This camp has really been different than the ones that we were at last year. This group of coworkers has not really ever done this before, so we’re the ones with the experience. It’s been a really interesting experience because that leads to these workers looking up to us, asking questions, and really following our lead. It’s a really unique experience for me, getting to know people on the other side of the world that I would have never met before had it not been for Christ. How many times does a person travel to the other side of the world, meet random people who can barely even speak the same language, and then form a unique relationship with those people, listen to their problems, and share their lives with them? That is the power of the Body of Christ. Being such a new group, there have been problems here and there. Some of the scheduling hasn’t worked out, some of the events went a little rough. Yesterday, for instance, we were planning on having a huge water balloon fight with the kids; we filled up tons and tons of them in preparation. However things ran on a little long and before we knew it the kid’s parents were ready to pick them up. So a number of water balloons that were meant for ninety some kids ended up being used just between us and our co-workers. That may have been the best water balloon fight I’ve ever been involved in. We did also end up having a water balloon fight this afternoon also for the kids, and it worked out wonderfully. A verse that really sums everything up is Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” I guess finally I should probably give a team update. Chuck’s first. He’s an old man, and as such his hips and knees are giving out. Johnny doesn’t understand the word “old” and eats too much. Andrew has a wonderful grasp of Mandarin Chinese, his vocabulary is at about 20 words now. Claire and Andrew are eating like champs. Gina’s a little on the depressed side. That’s because she didn’t get to be on my team this week. (She just can’t function without me, you know how it is.) Finally as for myself, I have blisters all over my feet because I decided it would be a good idea to play basketball with no shoes on in the middle of the day on an outdoor blacktop court. Well, see y’all later. Thanks for stopping by! - Josh Brown 

We're here!!!

Saturday afternoon:
We have all arrived with out any problems whatsoever. The flight was almost exactly 24 hours from door to door, many Sudokus and three very pitiful movies, which I (Chuck) didn’t even bother with. We spent the night in the dormitory of Chung Yuan University and grabbed breakfast at a dive we frequented last year. We have reunited with our other team members, Andrew and Gina, and are currently en route to Kaohsiung by train as I write. We will meet up with our Taiwanese coworkers tonight to begin the long process of skit rehearsals, grounds preparation and curriculum review. The first week of camp is in a new location so the local church and Taiwanese coworkers are going to be doing this for the first time. Fortunately we have almost two full days to get ready. Current temperature: 85°F, humidity: 70, not too bad.

Saturday night:
Our coworkers met us at the train station and whisk us off through the streets of Kaohsiung on a ride that could be compared with the bumper cars at the state fair, sans the bumps. It could be said that these are some of the most skilled drivers in the world; however the trip is not for the faint hearted. We’ve been busy every since getting to know each others names and roles as camp counselors and leaders. The expatriate team is suffering from a bit of jet lag and we’re going to try to get to bed before 11pm.

Team Members

Josh Brown
Josh is a senior at Virginia Tech returning for his second summer to work with the VGM English programs. Josh is heavily involved in Young Life in the NRV and is very comfortable around middle schoolers. It's a good thing too, because they seem to gravitate toward him!

Andrew Hall

Andrew is a graduate student in Computer Science at VT, having just completed an internship with Intel in Phoenix. Andrew also comes to us from spending four years as a Young Life leader working with middle school students in the NRV.

Jillian Derrick
Jillian was on our maiden trip to Taiwan in 2004. She grew up in China when her parents were then working and raising her and her two older brothers. She can often be found helping out in the children’s Sunday School program at BCF.

Gina Lin
Gina is a graduate student (PhD) from Taiwan. She joined our team last year and just can't seem to stay away. Her language and cultural background is a tremendous asset to the entire team. Her good humor never fails to brighten the day.

Alice Lo
Alice came to the US as a graduate student, married and is raising her family here with her husband Peter. Both are very committed to ministry among Chinese and are 'charter members' of the Blacksburg Chinese Christian Fellowship.

Claire Lo
Claire, also returning for her second time, is a high school junior, pianist, mime artist, athlete, and all around great team member. She is our team list maker helping keep us on track as we prepare. To dissuade our students from speaking to her in Mandarin she has contemplated wearing a T-shirt that states: "Made in the USA with parts imported from Hong Kong."

Chuck Schumann
This is the third BCF/VGM missions trip that Chuck has instigated. He is energized by both the young adults on the team and by the opportunity to serve in Taiwan. Answering to many titles (Mr. Schumann, Uncle Chuck, Chuck shushu and others) he wears many hats, including liaison between BCF and the VGM, team leader, cuisine consultant and classroom teacher.

Johnny Yu
This will be Johnny's first trip back to his native Taiwan as a 'missionary.' His home town is not far from Niao Song, our first assignment. Johnny is an elder in the Blacksburg Chinese Christian Fellowship, preaching approximately once a month. Professionally, Dr. Yu leads a group of scientist and engineers at the Radford Army Ammunition Plant designing rocket motors and propulsion systems.

The Village Gospel Mission

Founded in 1971 by an American missionary couple, the Village Gospel Mission (VGM) focuses on bringing the message of Christ to communities which are otherwise not served by the Church. As part of their service to the ten communities they are serve, VGM conducts educational programs for elementary and middle school aged children, adults and senior citizens.

The People of Taiwan

Taiwan has a rich and diverse culture. It was first populated by aboriginal people most likely from other Southeast Asian island. During the Qing dynasty Chinese settlers began to migrate to the island in large numbers pushing the original inhabitants into the mountains as the Chinese populated the western coastal plain.

Taiwan's Religious Background

The settlers build temples to the local deities as well as those on the Chinese mainland in an effort to appease the spirits. Many centuries later these customs have become deeply engrained in the Taiwanese culture to the extent that participation in ancestral and temple worship has become an obligatory part of community and family life. Consequently, although many have shown interest in Christ, few are able to follow through and attend church services or Christian activities without creating painful discord. The VGM describes this situation using the parable of the soils. The Taiwan countryside is hard, unplowed ground. For example, Niao Song has a population of almost forty thousand, twenty-two temples and a single church. Suan Tou’s population is approximately twenty-eight thousand with thirty-three temples and a single, newly formed two-year-old church. (More detailed information can be found about religion in Taiwan here at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Taiwan)

Purpose of the Trip

This summer the VGM will be conducting twelve “Bilingual Camps,” hosted in local public schools. BCF will join with Taiwanese college students as teachers and counselors at the middle schools in Niao Song and Suan Tou. Three years ago the BCF team joined with the National Taiwan University Christian Fellowship to host a Bilingual Camp at Suan Tou as an initial VGM outreach in the community. From that and other VGM activities a small church was formed in the town center. We’re excited to return there for the third time this summer and continue helping as best we can. This will be our first time going to Niao Song, although there is already a small but well-established outreach in that village.

Our calendar.